Making the Leap: Midwestern States Seek Federal Funds to Take Their Long-Planned High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail Network to the Next Level

This article describes the 13-year effort of nine Midwestern state departments of transportation to build a high-speed regional intercity passenger-rail network that links large cities within the region with Chicago as the hub. Called the Midwest Regional Rail system, the 3,000-mile network is poised to see a large chunk of stimulus dollars to replace and upgrade track, build sidings, install new signal and communication systems, and improve grade crossing to support intercity passenger speeds up to 110 mph. The collaboration has produced three “phase 1” corridors serving Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison, Wisconsin; Chicago-St. Louis; and Chicago-Detroit-Pontiac, Michigan. Service could be up and running on the Milwaukee-Madison corridor by 2012 because three states—Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan—have upgraded their system on their own as funding became available. The article explains how different states, working with each other and Amtrak, have planned the new system.